[ 001 ] ★ [ Video ]

[latenightfondue]

[ A solemn looking man with a serious expression appears on the screen, an impressive fountain in the distance behind him, and the sounds of rushing water carrying over the feed. He's wearing a white turtleneck jumper with a suede coat, brown hair looking flat and dark circles ring his eyes. ]

There goes the search for Cap. [ He sounds defeated, which rarely happens, but he says it with a sarcastic tone, masking the weight he carries with him for so far failing to find Steve in the wreckage.

He fiddles around with the device as he looks directly at it, now, rather than at the surroundings around him. ] So, anyone out there gonna fill me in on what the hell's goin' on 'round here or do I gotta figure it out for myself?

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[warmachine]

[ Rhodey recognises Howard for the same reasons as Pepper does: pictures.

He also recognises how tired the guy looks, which, okay. He wants to hate him on principle for what his parenting has done to Tony - because for all his blustering, Tony is painfully obvious sometimes. Middle-road it is, then. ]

Captain America's here and well.

[latenightfondue]

[ Someone who actually knows what it is he wants to know. Howard approves of this. ]

That a fact, pal? And where's here exactly 'cause right now I'm having a little trouble remembering how I got here.

[warmachine]

You're in the City.

[ he wants to protest the pal, but if Howard is anything like Tony, that would be a bad idea. ]

[latenightfondue]

The city got no name'a it's own? No? Okay. I can work with that. The City. Original.

Still, could be worse, and it's got potential. So what d'we do for fun around here?

[warmachine]

It doesn't have a name other than that. Don't ask me, I haven't been here for long, yet.

Has anyone sent you the guide, yet?

[latenightfondue]

Guess we can help each other out with all this, then, what d'you say?

Hang on, there's a guide?

[warmachine]

There's a guide.

[ Definitely not going to reply to the helping each other out bit. ]

[latenightfondue]

That's gonna be handy. Guess this means I owe you one, huh?

[warmachine]

Don't worry about it.

[latenightfondue]

Name's Howard, by the way. You got yourself a name?

[warmachine]

Col. James Rhodes.

[latenightfondue]

Gotta give this place one thing, it's got plenty'a soldiers if it ever comes under attack.

[warmachine]

And yet there's no actual military here.

[latenightfondue]

You're kidding? If I'm here for the long haul, I might've been able to offer my services.

[warmachine]

Not kidding. There's a police force, sort of, and that's it.

[latenightfondue]

[ Considering. ] They get to carry a gun?

[warmachine]

Guess so.

[ Hell. Rhodey has a gun and he's not with the police. There's no laws against that, he checked. ]

[latenightfondue]

Might sign myself up, if nothing else catches my eye. But with any luck I'll be outta here with the rest of 'em.

[warmachine]

Yeah, chances are you're only here for the weekend. [ Rhodey hopes so. Tony'll be bad enough just having seen Howard here. If Howard actually stays— ]

[latenightfondue]

[ Because he knows when there's some hostility looming. ] Something I'm missing, pal?

[warmachine]

[ And Rhodey would sigh or run a hand over his face, but he's better than that, than giving it away so easily. ]

Nah. Rough day, is all.

[latenightfondue]

You ever wanna grab a drink - they got bars 'round here, right? Please let there be alcohol - then I'm always up for the challenge.

[warmachine]

They've got bars 'round here, yeah. This place may be crazy, but it's not that crazy.

[latenightfondue]

Good to know. Way thing's keep going, gonna need all the time drinking time I can squeeze in.

[warmachine]

Try starting at the carousel, it's really not difficult to find a bar from there.